Got my 1st warning : Rogers Bandwidth

[spinbot]

Yes, I have.. and I'd wager just about all of us have, as well.
Ever buy a CD-R(W) disc? Or a DVD(+/-)R(W) disc? Then you've paid for the right to download music for personal use.

I don't think that is the purpose of the tax. The purpose of it is help recover the losses from illegal pirating.

"for personal use" -- that pretty much what everyone buys DVD and CD's for.

Give George Lucas a call and ask him what he thinks about you downloading StarWars Episode 3, burning it to DVD and then watching it.

The few cents from each DVD-R or CD-R is not intended to give you the right to downloading a movie or music and use it for personal use. That just makes no sense.

[thelefteyeguy]

No offense, but have you been living in a cave for the past five years? Downloading (pirating/leeching/whatever) music in Canada is 100% legal.

you'd be surprised...most canadians are ignorant and dont care about the news...dont you ever watch those TV programs when they ask ppl on the street about something and most canadians have no idea what they are talking about.

haha...illegal to download mp3s in Canada

[thelefteyeguy]

I don't think that is the purpose of the tax. The purpose of it is help recover the losses from illegal pirating.

"for personal use" -- that pretty much what everyone buys DVD and CD's for.

Give George Lucas a call and ask him what he thinks about you downloading StarWars Episode 3, burning it to DVD and then watching it.

The few cents from each DVD-R or CD-R is not intended to give you the right to downloading a movie or music and use it for personal use. That just makes no sense.

I got his voicemail. Should I leave a message? btw I didnt dl SW3...why would I want to see a cam version or a pre-print version with a time meter encoded on the screen?

[Asun]

No offense, but have you been living in a cave for the past five years? Downloading (pirating/leeching/whatever) music in Canada is 100% legal.

Not only is it legal to download music. It is also legal to "share" the music you have downloaded.

[d_jedi]

I don't think that is the purpose of the tax. The purpose of it is help recover the losses from illegal pirating.

The Federal Court disagrees with you on that one..

Give George Lucas a call and ask him what he thinks about you downloading StarWars Episode 3, burning it to DVD and then watching it.

We have no legal rights to download copyright protected movies.. and I am completely against people who pirate them. We pay a levy for music, therefore we can download music, plain and simple.

The few cents from each DVD-R or CD-R is not intended to give you the right to downloading a movie or music and use it for personal use. That just makes no sense.

I don't really like the current state of affairs, either. I'd prefer if there were no levy, and people did not have the right to download copyright protected works.. and this was actually enforced (no we-didn't-know-so-we'll-get-off-scott-free - complete bull$hit - like the Pacific Mall incident a while ago).

[thelefteyeguy]

Canada to be a country of leechers:

May 20, 2005

Music firms get lawsuit roadmap
Court ruling protects privacy But uploaders can still be sued


TONY WONG
BUSINESS REPORTER

Canadians who upload music files and make them available to others may still be subjected to lawsuits based on a Federal Court of Appeal decision released yesterday.

Despite the fact the music industry lost its quest to curb online file-sharing when an attempt to identify 29 alleged uploaders was quashed by the court, the ruling paves the way for the industry to continue to file suits, said Michael Geist, Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.

Indeed, Geist said the lawsuits could number in the thousands.

"The court has made clear that they can bring suits as long as they respect privacy," said Geist in an interview. "Before the decision their litigation strategy had ground to a halt. The road is now open."

The 27-page decision gives the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) a roadmap of how to present file-sharing evidence in future attempts to stop rampant music swapping. It rejected the lower court's ruling on copyright law, saying the judge was premature in his statements that file sharing is permissible.

Richard Pfohl, the music industry's lawyer, went as far as to call yesterday's decision "a complete success" even though the organization cannot proceed with lawsuits against the 29 people at this time.

"It provides us with a blueprint to proceed," he said. "We know exactly what we need to do."

Geist said based on U.S. experience, where the music industry has gone after uploaders, "we can expect thousands of suits against individual Canadians in the months ahead ... There is now every reason to think that Canadians will be subjected to a similar legal barrage."

For over a year CRIA has been trying to figure out who's behind pseudonyms such as Geekboy@KaZaA and Jordana@KaZaA.

The two are among 29 individuals suspected of collectively making 43,541 songs available to any Web surfer for free.

Finding out the identities from Internet service providers, such as Shaw, Rogers and Bell, is a necessary step in order to launch lawsuits against people who use services like Kazaa and IMesh.

Writing on behalf of the three-judge panel, Justice Edgar Sexton said much of the evidence was hearsay, posing a risk that "innocent persons might have their privacy invaded and also be named as defendant where it is not warranted."

The evidence was gathered by workers at New York-based MediaSentry and presented by the company's president who had only second-hand knowledge of how it was collected. Dating back to late 2003, it was based on screen grabs showing a list of songs placed in a shared folder.

However, those representing the public's interest in the case also called the ruling a victory.

"The decision recognizes and affirms the right of privacy for individual Canadians," said Howard Knopf, a copyright lawyer with Macera and Jarzyna in Ottawa who represented the public's interest during the case.

However, Knopf cautioned that a portion of the decision "opens the door to the kind of shock and awe campaign that we've seen in the U.S." because it gives CRIA a chance to come back with better evidence.

Geist cautioned that the decision yesterday does not mean a complete victory for the music industry.

"It only puts them at stage one, the ability to proceed with the lawsuit. Once you reach the lawsuit stage there is still uncertainty over the infringement issues," said Geist.

Yesterday's decision included several strong statements about the importance of protecting copyright in the online world so that music makers are not "robbed of the fruits of their efforts," suggesting CRIA should return to court when it has met all the necessary criteria.

The decision refrained from making grand conclusions on copyright laws — specifically about the legality of downloading or uploading music via file-sharing.

canadian press With files from the Star's tony wong

[vladislav]

         Down   Up       Total
  	7,130  	121  	7,251
 	6,348 	68 	6,416

What a load of BS! Now try to really just use WoW and see how much it eats up. It won't come anywhere near that in a month of play.

I am content with the limit, at least now I have perfect service. No more leechers so reasonable users can have their 5Mbit channel. I know it's not the best solution but whatever works. If you need to download more than 60Gig legally what the hell are you doing on cable, obviously you need some corporate connection, if it's illegal stuff why ***** and moan?
Also people threatening to quit rogers, give them a call, they will be very happy to do that for you since they are losing money on you anyways.

Maybe you people should think about it differently, you are being very wasteful. You are driving your hummer on suburban city streets, it's the same thing. I know the 'downloading' bug but you have to fight that disease, you are wasting too much energy in the process.

I think there really should be 'leechers anonymous', it would help you guys quite a bit, save you tons of aggrevation over these issues.

Good luck!

[Jump]

Doesn't anyone else find it funny that a bunch of torrent sites were shutdown on Tuesday cause they released Star Wars III online a few days before it was out in theatre. Makes sense since it is pretty illegal. But what I find funny is how they whine that the Motional Picture Industry loses millions of dollars yearly and how this pre-release cost the studios millions of dollars. Yet, Star Wars III smashed the record for highest grossing film on opening weekend.

Things that make ya go hmmm.....

[thelefteyeguy]

Doesn't anyone else find it funny that a bunch of torrent sites were shutdown on Tuesday cause they released Star Wars III online a few days before it was out in theatre. Makes sense since it is pretty illegal. But what I find funny is how they whine that the Motional Picture Industry loses millions of dollars yearly and how this pre-release cost the studios millions of dollars. Yet, Star Wars III smashed the record for highest grossing film on opening weekend.

Things that make ya go hmmm.....

also right after the THX commercial while watching SW3...i was bombarded with a very ridiculous commerical about piracy....which means that lucas funded the commercial and is probably going to be on the dvd

[Wildfire]

Well I bet people in a Somalian refugee camp think they have it better than those in an Ethiopian refugee camp, or those in a Mexican prison are happy they are not in a Brazilian prison, but at the end of the day, you are still in a refugee camp or a prison.

THANK YOU

Well said.
I was just about to post similarly.
I don't understand the whole "of it could be worse" reasoning, that's just rolling over and letting companies do anything they want.

[spinbot]

also right after the THX commercial while watching SW3...i was bombarded with a very ridiculous commerical about piracy....which means that lucas funded the commercial and is probably going to be on the dvd

Now, things like this ( commercials before movies on DVD ) annoy me. Copying a DVD like that, when it comes out, to a DVDR is a good thing as you can remove all that crap and just leave the movie.

Eventhough the Movie has had such good box office success, piracy still results in the loss of millions of dollars more that it could have made. Personally, I am happy with the motion picture industry in some aspects as I can see a movie for $10 or less. That is acceptable. Where I have a beef is with Blockbuster and them charging over $5 to rent a movie. Although this is off topic to the posts point.

I've said my peace - simply put -- bandwidth caps are necessary until the cost of bandwidth for ISP drops significantly. Without caps, speed/quality of service suffers for everyone. Better to upset 1% of the users to make 99% of them happy.

[d_jedi]

Doesn't anyone else find it funny that a bunch of torrent sites were shutdown on Tuesday cause they released Star Wars III online a few days before it was out in theatre. Makes sense since it is pretty illegal. But what I find funny is how they whine that the Motional Picture Industry loses millions of dollars yearly and how this pre-release cost the studios millions of dollars. Yet, Star Wars III smashed the record for highest grossing film on opening weekend.

Things that make ya go hmmm.....

Do you have any idea how much more money ROTS would make at the box office - both in the short term(opening week or two) and (more signficantly) in the long term - if people couldn't rip it off online?

Probably more money than you'll ever see..